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Thursday, May 4, 2017

Charles Krauthammer — Conservatives Are Losing On Healthcare

“Over these past seven years people’s expectations have changed,” [Krauthammer] said. “The grounds [for healthcare debate] are all liberal grounds…It’s showing that the country is at a point where I think it believes in universal coverage.”

For those outside the US or just not paying attention Charles Krauthammer is one of the deans of American conservatism. The Daily Caller is conservative media.

14 comments:

The tide is turning. All it takes is one state, and you'll be hearing much more about things like Medicare for All in the future, maybe not in the short-term, but perhaps a few more years in the aftermath of Trumpcare passing.

What is likely to happen is someone will realize that there is a lot to gain by advocating for what the majority of the public wants. Could be on either side since most people are agreed on major issues. If this catches on then office holders will have to get on board with it or there will be a wave election in which they are swept out.

"I think the GOP are far more likely to enact single payer than Dems. Less ideological opposition to it."

Remember, it was Nixon of all people who was this close to passing Basic Income decades ago. Read somewhere the Democrats were part of the reason that was shelved, as well as Nixon being told about some flawed study of England back in the 1800s w/ their BI experiment.

I guess on the one hand I am grateful they are failing so spectacularly, which I knew in my gut was a real possibility. But what scares me is what Tom has been saying, people are ready to revolt. They have had it. And TPTB are armed to the teeth. They know the policies they are enacting are going to piss people off, and they are ready to crack down if necessary.

I doubt a society as large, diverse, and fractured as ours can hold together under those pressures. I hope I am wrong.

Tom, I wish I had your optimism. I don't see the establishment letting go so easily.

I don't think they will let go easily.

In my view things won't come to a head until the next crisis, which will be global in scope.

I expect the outcome to be a decline in Western power and the rise of Asian-Eurasian power. Europe will choose to turn East and give up the Atlantic alliance with the US and UK. Australia will also see that their future is Asian rather than Atlanticist.

This will result in a global reconfiguration and it is impossible now to see how that might go, but eventually around the middle of this century, the largest economies will be China and India. Other countries will have to compete for their markets. US firms recognized this some time ago, since this is where their growth is coming from. I don't rule out a return to some kind of gold standard in this coming transition, since both China and India are traditionally gold hoarders.

Tis could happen gradually and peacefully — or not. If the Atlanticists decide to make a stand rather than be replaced by changing times, things could go bad. This is the Thucydides trap, where the US and China face off, likely involving NATO and Russia. If this would go nuclear, all bets are off.

In any case, if global warming continues or picks up speed, the rest of this century is going to be getting hotter in more ways that climate.

I am optimistic about the eventual outcome, but the phase transition is likely to be rough. And if it goes bad, anything is possible. There could be a major culling. With rising sea levels resulting in geographical change and a culling resulting in demographic change, global affairs would look very different from anything we can anticipate now.

So don't put me down in the "everything's gonna be just hunky-dory" camp.

The belt and road initiative is the world changer. I think people don't appreciate the cultural, political, social and economic changes it brings to all the regions it touches.

From Sub-Saharan Africa to Middle East, North Africa to Caucuses, China, Indo-Pak, Russia, East and West Europe will all be connected by road, rail, and communications with travel times cut to a fraction of time and cost within a decade.

The real productivity improvements will be mind boggling. The social and cultural exchanges and disruption to many of these closed isolated and insular cultures will be unlike anything we've seen in our lifetimes. Probably generations. Bigger deal than air-travel because this allows travel by everyone, not only the rich and elite.

The long shot comes in because the war-monger Democrats will be back in power in 4 or 8 years and the project probably needs about twice that to get done. Democrat ideology doesn't allow much interaction with nations who they disagree on identity and social issues.